The Future Of Operating Systems

I'd like to discuss the future of operating systems. Especially general purpose or personal computing OSs. I think that common desktop operating systems, similarly to televisions and phones, have reached a point where most end users aren't wishing for more functionality. Most users live in the browser and file browser, maybe with a bit of basic Word and Excel and image viewer. With only ricing and slight customization, you could trick a significant amount of Windows users into thinking that a GNU/Linux system is Windows 10, for years. They won't run into many or any missing features, because they don't need those features or often even know they exist. Pic NOT related! I just thought it was thread appropriate. The point is, alternatives can now catch up with their limited manpower. The only ways for the giants to distinguish themselves is with gimmicky and/or niche features, and configuration. For the main group of home users, I suspect inertia is the only thing that will keep them on Windows in the upcoming years. Here are some starting questions: >Do you believe [Microsoft+Apple+Google] marketshare will decrease over the next 5 years? >Do you believe purpose-built personal computing OSs such as Haiku or Chrome[ium]OS will replace general-purpose OSs? >Do you believe ReactOS will become a daily driver option that thousands use?

<>Do you believe [Microsoft+Apple+Google] marketshare will decrease over the next 5 years? I absolutely do not believe this, as Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system remains the easiest to acquire operating system available, being that it's available pre-installed on most modern laptops and pre-built towers. You may argue that it's easy to install a different operating system, but think about it from the perspective of a technological incompetent. The network effect also applies here. Apple is a little more questionable on the subject, but I still highly doubt they would lose any marketshare as long as Apple devices have the "professional" and """privacy friendly"""" stigma attached to them. Google has and will dominate search engines for years to come because they were a little superior when they were starting out, in addition to providing many ""free"" services. (ex. Google Classroom or Google Suite) <>Do you believe purpose-built personal computing OSs such as Haiku or Chrome[ium]OS will replace general-purpose OSs? Haiku will never gain any market share as long as Windows 10 is the standard operating system sold on desktop devices. Chromium OS has a future however, as it is very commonly used in schools. <>Do you believe ReactOS will become a daily driver option that thousands use? ReactOS isn't in a usable state after approximately twenty years of development; I doubt it.

I think it's fuarrrked. Maybe not in the next ten or twenty years, but less than one hundred years from now, I bet general purpose(ChromeOS doesn't count), personal desktop OSs will be seen in the same way as PDAs and pagers by the public. Desktops as a whole are dying in that space. The future of consumer computing looks like most storage being cloud-based and most software meant for non-techies being locked behind an app store of some sort, and/or subscription based. Windows will only be kept around in the coming decades because of inertia like you said, seen mostly as a fuddy office tool, but sooner or later, Microsoft will pull the plug on it and something will replace office. I don't want that, but that's what the direction seems to be. I've bitched about desktop linux plenty before, but this article does a far better job of summarizing every issue with it. https://itvision.altervista.org/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html I'd be able to tolerate most of these things if there were at least a nice, standard, backwards compatible API that ensured software written today would run on a linux system 15 years from now, but there's too much uncertainty and lack of wide-adoption for that. On top of that, installing software is either too much of a pain in the ass, or too reliant on the repository/app store model I despise. If win32 becomes deprecated, I'd stop using windows as a daily driver without a second thought.

>>44641 >you could trick a significant amount of Windows users into thinking that a GNU/Linux system is Windows 10, for years Also, I seriously doubt this. Maybe I'm out of touch, but as soon as they try using a .exe file to install audacity, discord, zoom or whatever else, they'll run into issues, even if wine is preinstalled and configured.

Absolutely not to all of the above. Why would any of those things happen? MS, Apple, and Alphabet are all megacorps that are individually more powerful than the US government. There is nothing that could realistically change that within 5 years. Xiaomi and Chinese tech companies might succeed and start to take some control, but that will take at least another decade. Windows, OSX, iOS and Android ship with the machines. Most people do not want to risk breaking things and stick to the defaults. So Haiku, desktop Linux, etc. will NEVER catch on as long as this is true. See above for ReactOS. If it doesn't ship with the machine, 99% of people will never use it. The end.

>>44646 >You may argue that it's easy to install a different operating system, but think about it from the perspective of a technological incompetent. The network effect also applies here. I agree. I doubt Linux-by-default will become much more popular. For any movement to happen, I think the alternative would have to actually become significantly better. I can see it happening in niches, like it has, but I guess that's the other side of the point; there aren't many opportunities to push above. You can convince people that it won't force updates, can look prettier by default and other small perks but in the end I agree with you. >>44647 Oh yuck, I forgot the computing-as-a-service future was coming. >>44649 >MS, Apple, and Alphabet are all megacorps that are individually more powerful than the US government. The US government have a military. >Windows, OSX, iOS and Android ship with the machines. Most people do not want to risk breaking things and stick to the defaults. So Haiku, desktop Linux, etc. will NEVER catch on as long as this is true. I agree. >See above for ReactOS. If it doesn't ship with the machine, 99% of people will never use it. The end. True but I wasn't suggesting ReactOS would replace, I was wondering if it would be used by people who "need Windows" but have financial or ethical issues.

>>44652 >I doubt Linux-by-default will become much more popular. Caveat: In the western world.

>>44652 Reactos seems dead in the water to me. Maybe it'll happen within a reasonable time frame, maybe it wont, or ever. It'd probably be better to use leaked source code to make a stripped-down, windows "replacement". Of course that would have to be done anonymously, but once it's out there, I don't think microsoft could do anything about it. People already pirate windows. Wonder if anybody has already thought of doing that.

>>44641 >ms + apple +google will decrease? Maybe they won't. I think it can be stationary But It won't decrease. > Haiku or ChromeOS will replace general-purpose OSs? I think It can. But companies won't. They don't need to take risk to change built in OS. If they want not to pay to install Windows 10, just taking out their products with no pre-installed OS. >ReactOS can be used as a daily driver? Sorry. I have not used that.

>Do you believe [Microsoft+Apple+Google] marketshare will decrease over the next 5 years? no chance. What could happen is two of these three will lose their marketshare and ultimately get bought out by the third. What will happen is they will control 100% of the marketshare and Linux, the BSDs, and all other OS will die. >Do you believe purpose-built personal computing OSs such as Haiku or Chrome[ium]OS will replace general-purpose OSs? no chance, considering they are obscure and not pre-installed on most computers, and since everyone is satisfied with Windows, not even Ubuntu Linux will ever become mainstream. Linux will either be completely dead or bought out by Microsoft or Google by 2030. I also think third-party manufacturers for laptops will cease to exist. Windows will only be available on Microsoft computers, just as Mac is only on Apple computers, and ChromeOS is on chromebooks. All your linux distros will cease development because it will no longer be possible to modify the software on a computer. >Do you believe ReactOS will become a daily driver option that thousands use? never. I doubt it'll ever reach beta and even if it got a full release, nobody would use it since it has an ugly 90s ui and lack of software. It's not even a linux distribution. I'd like to finish with some predictions for what operating systems will be like in 2026. 1. I already talked about how all devices will be first-party. They will put a kind of lock preventing the user from entering the BIOS/UEFI and forbid them from installing another operating system (like unlocking their phone). It is not your right to repair the devices or software as you do not own it. Manufacturers can, however, lock up your operating system rendering them unusable if they detect you installed a software they did not approve of. 2. the amount of spyware included in Windows, MacOS, and ChromeOS, will continue to increase. 3. no more third-party installers for Windows. Only apps from the official microsoft store can be installed. 4. even less settings for customization than we have now, in the name of security and the best interest of the general public, they will not allow you to change whether the panel bar is on the top or bottom of the screen. Any privacy settings currently on windows (such as telemetry, app permissions) will no longer be available. 5. DRM will be added system-wide with no way to disable it. 6. Microsoft still will not have released Windows 11. They will however remove the old control panel, most of the old desktop apps, and create a more consistent UI. 7. some kind of regulation or law will be placed to prevent development of new operating systems outside Windows, MacOS, and ChromeOS. 8. Android will be more like ChromeOS, with no way to install apps outside the google play store or remove or disable any of the pre-installed apps. 9. The linux community will disappear completely. 10. No more third-party browsers. Windows users must use Microsoft Edge, MacOS users must use Safari, and ChromeOS users must use Google Chrome. This will result in a backlash causing Windows to lose a small portion of it's market share to ChromeOS.

>>44675 >I also think third-party manufacturers for laptops will cease to exist. I doubt microsoft would abandon its main strategy so easily. Doing that would be shooting themselves in the foot and would actually be good for linux. As an HP exec or whatever, I'd rather put ubuntu on laptops by default than go out of business or be bought out. >it has an ugly 90s ui and lack of software No uglier than default mate in my opinion. Native .exe support at least on wine's level if not more means it doesn't lack software. >some kind of regulation or law will be placed to prevent development of new operating systems outside Windows, MacOS, and ChromeOS. This is probably the least likely prediction. >The linux community will disappear completely. Not by 2026 it wont.

>>44679 All of this. Also reskinning shouldn't be too hard so looking ugly is a poor argument.

>>44641 The problem is that it's almost a cartel. Both OS and device manufacturers are guilty of this. If you're a starting company they can either pick from one or more: A. invest in you and then ditch you (embrace extend extinguish) B. destroy you (patent troll or other forms of direct contact with you including sabotage from within your startup or even just plain gangstalking or should I say cartelstalking) C. they hire you but all you are working on will become their intellectual property so in response you end up abandoning your projects. you get paid their cents just to keep you off the tracks when you could be disrupting the giants. they even hire people to check on you just so they can confirm that you're not resuming that old project of yours and if you do they will now be owning the intellectual property legally then proceed to B or A or AB. I believe this is what happened to most projects I've been looking forward to. They all end up being abandoned or the dev life gets in shambles. They have unlimited resources, although laws were supposed to protect the people but it's never been exercised. Look up all the 'Anti-trust' cases on tech giants. Nothing happens. It's just another politician getting pay under the table, bet these politician don't even know jacksoykaf about technology. Whatever you're working on, don't crave for acceptance by publishing your work. Just keep it secret and be careful who you hire in your company.

>>44675 >Linux, the BSDs, and all other OS will die. Either that, or alternative manufacturers will become a lot more popular (Raspberry Pi, Purism, System76, Pine64). Other PC manufacturers will consolidate into one or two entities (Lenovo for China, Dell or HP for the West). Those PC manufacturers (both Windows and Linux manufacturers) would eventually become somewhat irrelevant though. Apple and Google will contend for marketshare, and eventually one will win. Apple will continue to make high performance devices, but will lock them down even more to be even more useless than they already are. There's a chance that Google might just kill off ChromeOS and exit the market, though. >No more third party browsers. Not like it means a damn thing anymore. There are no good browser codebases; Chromium, Gecko, and WebKit are trash. >>44649 >Chinese tech companies might succeed That's almost even worse, imo. >>44648 Not if the Windows store gets popular and someone designs a lookalike app for Linux.

>>44647 >https://itvision.altervista.org/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html This seems like a load of crap. >33. This is so freaking "amazing", you absolutely have to read it - the developer behind XScreenSaver fought with Debian developers. This is the XScreenSaver author complaining about how Debian *stable* won't include his feature updates despite including every security update. >! No equivalent of some hardcore Windows software like ArchiCAD, 3ds Max, Adobe products like Premier and Photoshop, Corel Draw, Quicken, video authoring applications/etc. Home and enterprise users just won't bother installing Linux until they can get their work done. Krita, Blender, GIMP (If I include GIMP in this list, will someone ignore the rest of the list?) Other gems: >21. ! Certain Linux components have very poor documentation and lack good manuals. >The Linux kernel contains a whole lot of very low quality code and when coupled with unstable APIs it makes development for Linux a very difficult error prone process. >! Certain Linux components have very poor documentation and lack good manuals. The reason *I* use a GNU/Linux desktop is because software development is garbage on Windows, uptime is garbage on Windows, and the CLI is garbage on Windows. In a world where people buy Chrome books, Linux is ready for the desktop. That's why companies like System76, Purism, and ThinkPenguin exist. That's why vendors like Lenovo sell computers with GNU/Linux preloaded.

>>44762 Ease of flexible use is garbage on Linux. I acknowledge that I'm biased, but you refuse to acknowledge your own biases. >In a world where people buy Chrome books They've stopped valuing flexibility when using their computer. They've become content with walled gardens. The most annoying thing here is your inability to understand why windows is appealing, like it's completely beyond you.

What do you guys think is going to become of non-UNIX-like operating systems? It seems that Microsoft has pretty much completed all of NT's design goals & objectives, and because of this they haven't really altered the actual low-level Windows stuff since Vista (except WSL1, but that's been abandoned). While I agree that UNIX is very well adaptable to change, the complete lack of threatening competition is depressing. And yes, I'm aware that Fuchsia is a thing. The problem with Fuchsia is that it's completely under Google's control and just seems to be a weird abortion created by mixing concepts from NT/VMS & UNIX together. I don't expect it to go far, and even if it does it's ultimately just a redo of Android.

>>44647 >On top of that, installing software is either too much of a pain in the ass, or too reliant on the repository/app store model I despise What? How is the app store too much of a pain?

>>44764 >The most annoying thing here is your inability to understand why windows is appealing, like it's completely beyond you. Windows is not appealing; windows is there. This is similar to Java. If you make no effort to choose your OS, you end up with Windows.

>>44809 It's either or. It says "or" right there. The app store isn't a pain, but I hate app stores. >>44810 I've been using windows since before I could read and because of that I have certain expectations which I refuse to abandon. I did think about switching to a linux distro. I did think about it, but my expectations weren't met. If everybody packaged their user-space software as an appimage and backwards compatibility/standardization was prioritized in APIs, I'd probably be using a linux distro.

>>44808 >And yes, I'm aware that Fuchsia is a thing. Personally I'm not worried about Fuchsia. If Google offers an Android-backwards-compatibility guarantee for Fuchsia and phone manufacturers stick with Android, Android developers are going to simply decide "let's just keep building for Android". It'll be OS/2 all over again. If Google makes no such guarantee and even just one big phone maker (probably Samsung) says "We're forking Android, all you developers won't need to change a thing in your process or code, and by the way, we're dropping our cut of app revenue to 5% less than Google's", then developers are going to give the middle finger to Fuchsia.

>>44811 So you don't use linux due to backwards compatibilty?

>>44824 Yes, that's part of it. In my opinion, software for a desktop os should 1. Be easy to install 2. Work on the latest os version at least 15 years after it was written without anything needed to be changed about it 3. Be available directly from the developers with no middlemen required 4. Be easily copied, stored and moved Most windows software meets these requirements while most linux software doesn't.

>>44825 I'm a long time Linux user who started using windows about a year ago, and I find it really amazing that I can just use software written eons ago and it just works, also the simplicity of programming on this platform is really amazing, it's so simple to throw together a gui wrapper around some of my scripts for my parents to use, and they don't even have to install anything, I can just distribute a single exe.

>>44825 >Most windows software meets these requirements while most linux software doesn't. While I get what you're saying, the problem is not with the software on Linux; it's really the distributions. Distros like Slackware have really, really good backwards compatibility, because the intended audience sees that as a useful feature. Most people don't however, which is why most distros don't have good backwards compat.

>>44827 Until you try to install GCC... even the tetrasomy disorder that is macOS X (or is it XI?) can do that with less of a headache.

>>44846 Maybe I'll try openSUSE Leap or Kubic then. Slackware doesn't seem to value ease of use.

>>44825 >Most windows software meets these requirements while most linux software doesn't. Because of static libraries, which unices fret to use, because they are complete waste of space and resources. Ship the ancient software with old libraries and they will most likely work. For example, all ports loki software made still work fine, as long you use the old libraries. Windows by default ships with massive amount of ancient libraries and although it works decently and is one way to provide great backward support (and MS can be lauded for this), it is not a efficient one. But is there better way? Probably not.

>>44898 >Because of static libraries Windows software also uses dynamic linking a lot, but most of those dynamically linked libraries are usually included in the installer, so software is self-contained at the installer level. >they are complete waste of space and resources Not a priority for me. If they make things more convenient, that's a good use of space and resources, not a waste. Somebody mentioned security vulnerabilities as a better argument against this than using up a tiny part of the massive storage space desktop computers have now. If you're installing untrusted code anyway, that doesn't matter much in my opinion. I don't get viruses anymore myself. >loki software Interesting, but they didn't make original content. If there was a wealth of entertainment software only available on linux and packaged like that, it would be a lot more appealing to me. How are things going to be in the next fifty years?

>>44898 >Because of static libraries, which unices fret to use, because they are complete waste of space and resources. That argument may have been valid decades ago when storage and RAM had to be carefully rationed, but in 2021 (unless one is doing embedded dev work) dynamic linking does way more harm than good.

>>44654 There was some work being done on getting x64 builds of XP compiled from source, but there was too much missing from the leak to be able to do so. x86 builds are very doable though.

>>44675 >Linux, the BSDs, and all other OS will die. Nah. Linux and BSD aren't going anywhere. I can see ReactOS and Haiku dying off, but Linux especially is not going anywhere. We'll have to disagree here.

The monopoly's will get bigger and bigger. Linux supports the monopoly's as a server operating system. But It will never grow into a big desktop market share because of the "Tech Geeks" being tech illiterate and only sticking to windows.

>>46575 Linux will die as in freedom of choice and community development. It will become a corporate operating system. Only a few distros will exist and all of them will be developed by corporations.

- Most Linux and BSD developers are corporate wage employees, they do whatever their manager tells them to do, all their intellectual labor belongs to their employer. 99% of free software operating systems run on computers which are not directly interacted by humans, e.g. not "personal" computers, in empirical and in legal sense too: tivoization of any electronic gadget containing a computer and corporate ownership of servers are the main priorities of free and permissive-licensed operating systems. - "Desktop environment" developers are mostly hobbyists and clueless dimwits employed as least important department by corporations who own Linux, simulating productivity by trying to copy worst fads from proprietary desktop environments and failing hard even at those. - "Desktop metaphor" is stuck in the 90's itself when all the physical world cues for skeumorphic concepts have evolved or became obsolete (3D-printed save icon), and personal computing priorities have shifted from adapting paper-pushing office populations to electronic paper-pushing simulation to actual personal information acquisition/creation, which is better supplied by conveniently crafted "cloud" or on-line services wow, remotely accessed mainframes, just like in the 70's, all unixbros have creamed their pants right now. How many user environments allow you to do fluent full-text search queries on your "files" (lol, yeah, something your grandpa used to punch on his Smith-Corona and store in steel cabinets) in same fluency you'd do a search on the web with Google? (in Terry Davis' voice) *Noo, that's a command line*, and command line is only for nerds, niggers normals can't use command line because we're still in the 90's, only way you should use a command line is on a 500-baud teleprinter in your basement like true UNIX wizards do, no no no it can't possibly be a universal natural language search field. - Why do we still use tree structure and not metadata/concepts/tags for allocating personal information which are more perceptible to human brain than some obscure word string "paths"? I can go online on any kind of booru gallery site and search for 'futanari' 'goblin' 'lolita', and find exactly what I'm looking for, on my crusty own hard drive with conventional "file system", how would you propose storing a doujin comic or image that falls under all three categories: ~/Mongolian Handicrafts/futanari/goblin/lolita? - A simple personal information management example: 20 years ago I could go to a store, buy a CD with directory information on all businesses in my city and interactive map, today, with much larger storage spaces and computing speeds I can barely find an offline map application software that is not 10 years old abandonware (I'm not against good old software, but unfortunately anything older than 1 year is unsupported on any given Linux OS without virtualization) or doesn't crash on 20 bookmarked points, let alone an idea of storing info such as working hours and maybe a few photos and floor plans of every public venue in the city on my own computer's memory is considered blasphemous by the free software community: use OpenStreetMap, buy a paper atlas, visit Google Maps in incognito mode they say. And so I reside to the latter. - As long as personal needs are neglected in personal computing (not "computering" most computer-obsessed nerds like to indulge, a neighboring TUI thread is a good example of one), people would resort to least painful alternatives offered by our benevolent benefactors: online service corporations.

>>46607 >all their intellectual labor belongs to their employer Only that produced at work except in nations that allow such bullshit. Here's it's not a "check that it's not on your contract", it's "that's illegal here". >How many user environments allow you to do fluent full-text search queries on your "files" Emacs does. Among many different options (yes, multiple), there's "find-grep-dired". I vaguely remember some other program which actually did it more in a elasticstack kind of way, someone has probably already made an Emacs package for it. >Why do we still use tree structure and not metadata/concepts/tags for allocating personal information which are more perceptible to human brain than some obscure word string "paths"? This is a valid criticism and one I've been likewise decrying. At the current time there's basically hydrus and tmsu, both of which aren't particularly well-integrated. >A simple personal information management example I think that might be the wrong term. org-roam fits the name better for "personal" information management. What you want is more of a generalized city/administrative region/national information directory. Offline maps are relatively easy to find. Metadata sources for those offline maps is a different thing, and it is currently seriously lacking. I suspect that Google and other similar corporations have spent more than a bit of effort into ensuring that governments and businesses don't provide that information in a convenient and practical fashion that would allow independent storage and use.

>>46614 >emacs A text editor for Apple computer from 1984 is not exactly what I'd call human-oriented software for current needs.

It doesn't help that the communities and developers which hold control over Linux/BSD's market viability are so jaded and close minded that nothing will overtake windows for a while.

>>44641 >The point is, alternatives can now catch up with their limited manpower. There's already a solution for that. So you're a dev? You make privacy apps? You write privacy addons? You make rooting possible? You make software that works pretty much like theirs? You have a startup for a good operating system? A startup that makes the alternative phone/laptop? They hire you. It's that simple. They have less trouble by paying you $1000-5000/mo than you doing and inventing your soykaf that can potentially harm their giant business. Also, when a tech company hires you, you can't do any side projects, you get paid to do nothing since you're dangerous to their business or revenue model. Culling the seedling before it grows to a giant tree. Killing the hero right after they're born. If you can beat us, we make you join us. <- that's their mantra now. Look at how many of those I've mentioned now work for the ones they loath the most. It's unironically like poetry.

>>46651 >neurosuggesting the software has remained static for over 30 years Are you even trying? That is also not where Emacs comes from. https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html https://www.multicians.org/mepap.html It serves my needs better than essentially all other software. Both from a feature standpoint, and from a "Can I modify this without too much pain?" standpoint.

>>46712 >when a tech company hires you, you can't do any side projects What kind of soykafhole do you live in? Here they only own what you make on work computers at work. Or do you simply mean that they assign you so many work hours you simply don't have the time to do anythign at home?

>>46714 You're comparing your local company to "bigtech who hires people to silence them". You did not understand the point. Or you did not know the bigtechmegacorp work policies that obviously fits their purpose like a glove.

>tech company hires you to prevent working on your "hobby" that indirectly harms their revenue or may destroy them in the future >tech company sends you email and hires you >finally your peers and famiry will no longer see you as that freetard and you get to work in a renowned company >get in, can no longer work on hobby though even outside work hours, they own your IP if you work on it while you're their employee and they even have lawyers for that >keikaku doori.mp4 also read >>44713

>>46717 >they own your IP if you work on it while you're their employee Except that's illegal where I am, and one can pre-empt it by explicitly noting down in the employment contract that such a project is already underway. Of course there's also simply the option of pseudonymously developing it anyway. It shouldn't have been developed under your own name in the first place anyway.

>>46748 continued >explicitly noting down in the employment contract that such a project is already underway. The general effect of this is that they don't go forward with employing you because it complicates their trolling too much.

>>46748 >Except that's illegal where I am Howmanycountriesinthworld.xls Insignificance.

>>46799 It's illegal in most of the EU as well. One can move to avoid legal trolling. Of course as I mentioned prior, why in the world would you voluntarily identify yourself and give a target?

>>46713 Holy soykaf lainon you just got BTFO by >>46651

The future of GNU/Linux is not about choice GTK 5 will be released in 10 years and when merged with Wayland, many desktop environments will cease development. GNOME will be the only GTK desktop environment left and it's already unusable now, and it's only going to get worse. Titlebars are too big. No customization. They might even make it impossible to theme because a few developers cried that users were ricing their desktop. KDE will still exist, but only as controlled opposition (as it is right now). Both major desktop environments will continue to be resource-hungry to the point to where it's no longer possible to use an old, librebooted thinkpad. Window managers like i3 will no longer work because GTK will require wayland and GNOME, which will require systemd. Since most programs are built using GTK toolkits, and there is no viable alternative, there will be no way to avoid GTK anymore. We'll have to resort to using commandline programs for everything, including web browsing. No longer will it be possible to rice your desktop, to make it feel like Windows 95. Linux will become just like Windows and MacOS in terms of customization. No longer will you have control over your own operating system. Corporations will control every aspect of Linux and will use the term "open source" to give you a false sense of control. The number of distributions will diminish greatly, as computers will become more locked down, it'll become impossible to install a Linux distro on a Windows laptop (just as it's impossible to root a phone on a carrier-locked device). When this happens, alternative manufacturers such as Purism, Pinephone, and System76 will become more popular, but those companies will soon consolidate and be bought out to become controlled opposition from Windows and MacOS. These alternative computers will ship with distributions, and while it may be possible to install another distro, it'll become difficult as Intel and AMD could try to stop users from installing their own OS, and since the number of distros will go down to maybe 20 or 30 (compared to the 200+ we have now), there won't be much choice anymore. All of the distros that survive will use systemd, except maybe Gentoo, and even it will be pressured into switching to Systemd. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Asus, Acer, and other third-party manufactuers will become irrelevant since more people will just buy Microsoft laptops. These manufacturers will consolidate into just three companies (Lenovo for the east, Dell/HP for the west, and maybe Asus and Acer also merging together). Windows will continue to get worse in terms of privacy and lack of customization, and so will MacOS. ChromeOS will either become as popular as MacOS or be killed off. MacOS will either become more popular, or will start to become irrelevant and turn into controlled opposition like Mozilla is now. When all this happens we'll be forced to accept and embrace this nightmare. There will be no escape, as it'll become impossible to live in the woods with no electronic devices (as employers will require you have a phone and more jobs will become online only). Why are we delaying the inevitable? Let's just give up and accept that Microsoft, Apple, and Google own us. Let's go back to using Google since we're going to have to go back to them anyway. There is no hope anymore. Maybe 10 years ago we had some hope, but all of it is gone now. We have lost. Why are we still fighting for a lost cause?

>>47034 You quoted those numbers in the wrong order. Apple dude was wrong.

>>47051 >Let's go back to using Google since we're going to have to go back to them anyway. Then, since you are going to die anyway, why don't you kill yourself? I can understand having a defeatist mindset but at least be consistent. Polite sage for off topic.

>>47051 Nyxt uses Qt and is graphical. So browsers are still safe. Also, why do you assume all of what you've said will happen?

>>47051 In my mind personal computing can go in two directions: The one i am hopeful for, where operating systems don't matter, with an immutable OS on bare metal and properly accelerated sandboxes/containers/VMs on top for applications, think nix meets qubes. The necessary software bits and hardware capabilities are there, although mostly limited to the enterprise space. This is the best case scenario, technology trickles down to the end user who in turn gains more control over his or her computing. The one i dread, with software and hardware as a service being the norm, with computers becoming more akin to appliances, similarly to carrier-locked phones. Given how willing, and even happy a lot of people are to give up ownership of their media, software, hardware or transportation, their privacy, bodily autonomy and freedoms for the sake of "convenience", "safety", "public health", "ecology" or what have you, i really do see this scenario being the most likely future for mainstream personal computing. While rather pessimistic, i don't realistically see anyone taking away my computers, my software or any of my computing freedoms. The only control one can exert over you is that which you grant them, at least that's what i like to think.

>>47081 >i don't realistically see anyone taking away my computers, my software or any of my computing freedoms. The only control one can exert over you is that which you grant them, at least that's what i like to think. It's not so much that, as people will judge you to be "weird" for not using computers the same way as you do.

>>47082 But we don't use computers in public, why would that be a concern?

>>47082 Which is of no concern to me, even though i am not as fortunate as >>47084. Perhaps I am lucky, but people really don't care in my experience, be it my coworkers or my comrades when i was in university. Provided you don't go on some RMS-style diatribe when questioned, people genuinely do not care about your computing habits as long as they do not hinder your or their ability to get things done.

>>44641 To answer OP's questions, >Do you believe [Microsoft+Apple+Google] marketshare will decrease over the next 5 years? No. Their marketshare will persist, even increase. If the current global situation has shown anything, it's that organizations are more willing put their vital communications at the mercy of these companies and their user subjugating "ecosystems" than they are to guarantee their independance and control through the use of their own infrastructure and free software solutions. This, in turn will only keep said organizations, their members and even end users trapped. >Do you believe purpose-built personal computing OSs such as Haiku or Chrome[ium]OS will replace general-purpose OSs? For most end users, definitely, as their first "computing" experience is bound to be with a appliance such as a console, toy or any variety of fondle-slab, with a limited, purpose-built OS, rather than any kind of proper computer, which they would most likely be exposed to at work or in school, making it less likely that they will want to engage with one in their free time/personal life. As cool as it would be, i certainly wouldn't want to run the same old GNU/Linux everywhere, including in places it is overkill or simply does not belong >Do you believe ReactOS will become a daily driver option that thousands use? Definitely not for end users, as even some variety of BSD or GNU/Linux is bound to have better support for their hardware and software. I could see it getting traction for industrial control systems, as these rely heavily on old windows versions for their proprietary drivers and applications, but still need to be accessed remotely, which has significant security implications. But that would require significant work on both binary and driver compatibility, which the project is definitely skilled enough, but severely understaffed to tackle effectively.

This book is older than 80% of people posted in this thread.

>>47089 I'm adding it to my library.. Could you give us some context as to how this book relates to the thread and the opinions in it?

>>47058 Nyxt uses webkit/webengine, so browsers are not safe.

>>47116 > Since most programs are built using GTK toolkits, and there is no viable alternative, there will be no way to avoid GTK anymore. We'll have to resort to using commandline programs for everything, including web browsing. It could be retooled to used McCLIM with some work.

>>46607 just smoke a bunch of crack and switch to plan9. the paranoia + enthusiasm with leave you with some unholy collection of shell scripts that do all that and sure you won't use the internet that much after but you won't want to and you just don't understand everything actually is a file

>>47089 It took me a few minutes to realize what the yellow silhouette on the cover was supposed to be of.

>>46589 Not necessarily a bad thing. I like how Linux is about choice. I choose to use Ubuntu, GNOME, Google Chrome, Atom IDE, Systemd, and apps such as Discord and Spotify.

>>47887 >paranoia >leaves you with shell scripts correction, schizophrenic paranoid, as opposed to rational paranoia, will leave you with the garbage that is any UN*X

>>47932 might as well just use windows at this point